Cobbled Together

at

Saturday.

Temple Bar, Dublin 8.

Musicians bring a coffin to Merchant’s Arch while protesting to save one of the best known traditional Irish music pubs, the Cobblestone.

A petition against proposal to build a hotel beside the pub has received almost 20,000 signatures in less than 24 hours. The proposed development would see the demolition of a number of derelict buildings adjoining the pub and the construction of a nine-storey hotel.

Leah Farrell/RollingNews

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39 thoughts on “Cobbled Together

    1. scottser

      the entire city is built on viking settlement, which in turn is built on a series of settlements going back to the mesolithic.
      what’s your point caller?

      1. paul

        they had studies done to prove that there was a recognisable settlement on the site but rather than excavate it and whatever artefacts contained there (and the build the HQ afterwards), they just poured concrete onto it and built their office.

        It’s a bit insulting as well as out front on the path they have little inset artworks detailing Viking artefacts found in the area. As if to celebrate the very things they cemented over.

        1. scottser

          i won’t deny that the wood quay excavations were a model for how to railroad through a development contrary to good sense and public opinion but do you think the vikings themselves gave a monkeys for the thousands of years of archaeology that they built on top of?

    2. Ronan

      what did you want the land around settlement to become instead of an office? Geniune question.

      I spoke to an archaeologist I was trying date years ago (never got anywhere, probably should have brought more game than asking her questions about her field) and she basically said “you can’t turn the whole country into a museum that no-one ever visits. We’re finding a few foundations that aren’t unusual for their time, the odd body, some tools and some pottery. It’s not feasible to turn everything into a visitor centre.”

      I said I expected an archaeologist to be more of a conservationist and she said “I didn’t say I didn’t want to carefully preserve artefacts. No problem delaying construction for years while we go through everything, but it just needs to documented and artefacts collected and preserved – then move on. Not everything is the Roman forum or the Acropolis”

      So my question is, do you think that WoodQuay should be some sort of preserved walkway or something?

      There’s photos here of the dig?
      https://archaeology.co.uk/articles/features/wood-quay-revealing-the-heart-of-viking-dublin.html

      So are you thinking a walkway over it that you can stare into the hole? Or did you want the thing to be recreated for an immersive experience of some sort, with tour guides dressed as Broader?

      1. Fergalito

        Good point, when does the past become more important than “progress” in the present notwithstanding the fact that definitions of progress will vary depending on who you are talking to?

        Are we obliged to excavate all of Ireland to unearth every treasure that may potentially be buried underground?

      2. george

        It is a terrible place for an office. But I think you underestimate the scale and rarity of what was discovered.

        1. Ronan

          No, I’m satisifed that it was a very significant find.

          https://archaeology.co.uk/articles/features/wood-quay-revealing-the-heart-of-viking-dublin.htm

          Apologies on the link, I added an ‘l’ thinking I’d mis-copied and pasted

          My question is: what do people think should have been done there? I have presented two options:
          – Walkway over ruins: a bit like some of the walls/foundations preserved around the tower of London, if you know it.
          – Rebuild a viking village as a museum and tourist attraction.

          Feel free to educate me as to what you can make out of the evidence of a significant settlement. I will accept ‘preserve the hole in the ground for people to look into’ as an answer if that’s what you think should have been done.

          1. johnny

            …the tower where the brits held Casement,before hanging him,while he was there they smeared him as a homosexual to prevent US objections,to the very savage act of hanging him,by forging his so called “Black Diaries”…yeah the tower is top my list after Harrods and watching the magpies…..

            good example of what you can do in urban cores.

            https://www.911memorial.org/visit/museum

      3. Papi

        The Wood Quay dig was implemented after huge public and academic protest, not just here either, at what had already been destroyed, no getting that back now, so the dig was literally only 20% or so of what was developed. Archaeologists don’t want walkways or visitor centers over every bloody wall, or fulacht or drain but development, private or public has to foot the bill for the destruction they cause, especially now that we know something will be destroyed.

  1. Ronan

    Why all the imagery of the merchant’s arch? I think this is deliberate to obfuscate what actually will be demolished on the other side of the river.

  2. Janet, dreams of an alternate universe

    it’s one of the few picturesque parts of the city centre, what do they think tourists enjoy in Dublin, over priced pints and green plastic ?

  3. f_lawless

    Interesting contrast to the protest in Dublin the other day on abortion rights in Texas. Why was one protest an almost entirely masked affair while there was little sign of masks at the other? Answers on a postcard..

  4. Cian

    The proposed development would see the demolition of a number of derelict buildings adjoining the pub and the construction of a nine-storey hotel.

    **clutches pearls**

    The demolition of a number of derelict buildings?

    *faints*

    1. just millie

      So make use of the existing structures.

      And stop building fucking hotels. No one who actually lives in this city wants another poxy hotel.

      1. ian-oG

        Exactly Millie. What do they think the endgame will be?

        A city filled with hotels but almost nowhere to go? Come to Dublin, see the hotels!

        We do have a few museums during the day and of course the Guinness brewery tour but you can go back and sit in the tiny bar of your tiny ’boutique’ hotel then go back to your tiny little room you probably paid 199.99 per night to stay in.

        Its almost like they do not think more than a week into the future. The literal worst wedding present I received was someone thought for some moronic reason that I would enjoy staying in a ‘suite’ in a city centre hotel. I found out the cost and was absolutely disgusted. The room was about the same size as my bedroom at home, you almost had to exit and re-enter the show to turn around in it and breakfast was a f-king croissant and what tasted like orange cordial.

        In other words, just another money making scam to relieve tourists of their cash, we will end up killing tourism and giving Dublin a bad name.

        1. Otis Blue

          Just a feeling but I don’t really think that overseas visitors will be flocking back to Dublin in anything like the numbers of old. It’s just not that compelling.

          1. Ronan

            You’d be surprised at how many folks globally have Dublin on a bucket list, and how highly they speak of it afterwards.

            I never liked it personally until I lived there and knew my way around. Now I no longer live there, I still find it enjoyable for a visit.

            To us in Ireland, it’s a tourist trap with overpriced pints. To most yanks – and many a European – it’s only slightly expensive and simply falls into the ‘capital city prices’ bucket.

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